Motivational conflicts

Did you know that 40 to 45% of adults make one or more New Year’s resolutions each year but research also shows that the percentage of people who maintain new year’s resolutions falls sharply as the weeks go by. The following shows how many of resolutions are maintained as time goes on:

* Past the first week: 75%* Past 2 weeks: 71%* After one month: 64%* After 6 months: 46% - every 5 people out of 100 will stick to the new behavior.

When you fall back to your old habit instead of thinking on failure and blaming the cold weather, the economy, people around you and yourself answer the following questions:

* What is it that I am getting from that old habit?* What have I accomplished by hanging on to it?

You will almost always find that your mind has multiple and conflicting motivations. Part of it would say that being free of that habit you want to change will be beneficial, another part of your mind has the fantasy that hanging on to that will bring a magic and desired end result.

So, what’s the trick?

* Keep your focus on the benefits of the desired change* One small step at a time – change won’t happen overnight and it’s a result of small and consistent steps, so break the process down to doable and enjoyable steps* Visualization – spend some time on imagining where you want to get* Keep a track record of your progress – look at it once a week, so you know where you started and how much you improved